Introduction to sports coachingIntroduction

Sports coaching means different things to different people. For some, sports coaching is their job, for others it is a pastime that they willingly give up their time to do on a voluntary basis. Some pursue the academic study of sports coaching for personal attainment or for sharing ideas and information; others pursue the vocational study of sports coaching to acquire certification that demonstrates a particular level of competence. Individuals and teams are the consumers of sports coaching. Often coaching is all about improving individual or collective performance, however, receiving sports coaching also offers the space to enjoy participation in sport. This chapter will enhance your understanding of sports coaching by challenging you to explore some of the assumptions surrounding the study and practice of sports coaching.

Learning outcomes

After you have read this chapter you should be able to:

• understand the importance placed on sport in modern society

• appreciate the context in which sports coaching currently exists

• define sports coaching

• understand what motivates people to become a sports coach

• appreciate the different approaches to sports coaching

• understand why a humanistic approach to sports coaching is regarded as the benchmark in coaching practice

• explain why a humanistic approach is compatible with a performance sport culture

• understand what makes a good coach

• understand the multiple roles of a coach.

Chapter1

1

The importance placed on sport in modern societyAs recently as the middle of the last century, there was a limit on the roles that an individual might fulfil in relation to sport. Involvement was restricted to participating, spectating, volunteering, and consuming the sports news mainly in the newspapers or on the radio. The professionalisation and commercialisation of sport was yet to develop, and the relationship between television and sport was in its infancy (Houlihan, 2009). In modern society, sport touches the lives of many. It has been estimated that billions of people tune in to view global mega-events such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup finals.

In the United Kingdom, watching sport has never been easier with over 20 dedicated sport channels, and the British Sky Broadcasting Group alone transmitting in excess of 100 hours of sport on a daily basis to its 10 million subscribers. Additionally, increasing press coverage of sport on the front and back pages as well as the iconic status of sports stars are indicators of the importance invested in sport. As a result of media coverage, few if any areas of public policy have the exposure offered by sport to policy makers, and as such it is seen as a vital component in the delivery of a wide range of Government objectives.

The context in which sports coaching currently existsIt is estimated that over 6 million people receive sports coaching in the United Kingdom (DCMS, 2002). Approximately 80% of the 1.2 million people involved in the practice of sports coaching contribute their time on a voluntary basis (SkillsActive, 2011), however, paid employment as a sports coach represents a significant part of the active leisure, learning and well-being sector workforce. Sport is categorised as a sub-sector of the active leisure, learning and well-being sector, with a total workforce of about 400,000 people employed on a full-time basis. Sport provides 2.2% of all jobs in the United Kingdom (Carter, 2005), where it is estimated that there are 240,000 paid sports coaches, of which 80,000 are employed full-time (SkillsActive, 2011). Coaching contributes approximately 20% of the full-time workforce in the sub-sector of sport (SkillsActive, 2011).

Sports coaches work with children and adults from the grass roots through to performance sport. In addition to improving an individual or team’s performance, sports coaches are increasingly seen as playing an important part in working towards a wider social role for sport and the Government’s policy goals. The result of this is that sports coaches operate in an exciting time, and to capture the invaluable contribution that sports coaches can make. In 2008, Sports Coach UK launched the United Kingdom Coaching Framework as a focal point for developing a world-leading sports coaching system by 2016. Chapter 2 (Sports Development) explores these developments in the sports coaching system in the context of the broader sport policy influences in the United Kingdom.

Government objectives relate to the key roles that sport can play in contributing to wider policy goals, such as improving the health of the nation, stimulating the economy, national pride in our elite success, national and international prestige, city regeneration and tourism. In addition, sport is inherently linked to community benefits, for example, improved educational attainment, reduction in crime rates and enhanced social cohesion, as well as being seen as having the potential to help redress the social divisions around class, race, gender and disability. Instrumentalism describes the way that the Government’s interest in sport derives from the way it helps to develop personal and social life. As well as being valued by TV viewers and consumers of other media, sport is also valued by participants because it develops personal skills, competition, friendships, fitness, health, psychological well-being and it’s fun.

In England, 17 million adults participate at least monthly in sport and physical activity (Carter, 2005), and of these, almost 7 million participate at least 3 times a week (Sport England, 2011). It is recommended that children engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity activity on a daily basis, and it is estimated that 70% of boys and 60% of girls in England between the ages of 5 and 16, which equates to approximately 5 million children, meet or exceed this requirement (British Heart Foundation, 2011). Children meet this requirement through compulsory and extra-curricular physical education and school sport in combination with sport and physical activity away from the school setting.

Whether it is participation in sport for personal (internal) reasons or for broader (external) reasons, the environment in which sport takes place is very important. At the centre of this environment is the sports coach.

Drawing on experiences that you have had in sport consider who you think is a truly inspirational coach and list the reasons why.

Starting block

Instrumentalism – a philosophy holding that what is most important about a thing or idea is its value as an instrument of action and its usefulness

Key term

Definition of sports coachingThe use of the term sport can be problematic. Sport is often defined in terms of team sports (for example, hockey, netball, football, rugby and volleyball) or individual sports (for example, tennis, badminton, golf, athletics and fencing). The definition is usually refined by adding that sport is normally associated with being physical, requiring skill, involving competition with clearly identifiable winners and losers, and that sport is played or performed according to set rules. This definition of sport often leads to intense discussions about whether or not a particular activity is a sport or not.

In adopting, and not questioning, this narrow definition of sport, we limit our understanding of what sports coaching is by restricting it to working with athletes in a selection of mainly games-based activities that meet a set of rigid criteria. This book embraces an understanding of sport to incorporate any physical activity that is undertaken for any reason (including competition but expanded to include other purposes such as enjoyment, social activity, weight management, friendships and developing self-esteem). Activities that are brought under the banner of a broader physical definition of sport, to sit alongside ‘sports’ include exercise, health related activities, exergaming, dance and activities of daily living.

In pairs, debate whether or not the following are sports:

• Ballroom dancing

• Chess

• Darts

• Snooker

• Ice skating

• Archery

• Parkour

• Skateboarding

Stop and think

SkillsActive is the Sector Skills Council responsible for Active Leisure, Learning and Well-being, which includes the following sub-sectors:

• Sport

• Fitness

• Playwork

• The outdoors

• Caravan

Remember

Question: How many people would willingly sit in front of their television sets for five weeks to watch 64 games in which 11 overpaid athletes try to move an inflated leather ball across a 24-foot line, while another 11 try to move the same ball across another line 100 yards away? (Cashmore, 2000, p.1)

Answer: 37 billion, including 1.7 billion – a quarter of the world’s total population – for the final 90 minutes alone.

Stop and think

Performance – how well a person or team does

Exercise – activity that maintains or enhances fitness

Health related activities – activity aimed at improving the health and well-being of an individual

Exergaming – the term used for video games that also incorporate physical activity

Activities of daily living – the things that you normally do in your daily life at home or at work

Key terms

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• How important is winning?• Are you interested in the holistic development of

your athletes?• How important is playing by the rules?• Are you comfortable with ceding control and

power to your athletes?• Do you want to encourage a coaching

environment where athletes feel comfortable questioning you?

• Do you care if your athletes enjoy the session?• Do you foster an environment that embraces

respect for others?• How would you deal with a ‘pushy parent’ in

your coaching environment?

Here is an example of an excerpt from a coaching philosophy statement. It lists aspects of coaching in order of priority. The statement could also be presented as a piece of continuous text. This is a coach working with a group of 20 county squad players of an individual sport. The players’ abilities range from a competitive social standard through to national level and they are between 15 and 17 years old. There are equal numbers of male and female athletes in the group:

1. The sessions should be fun and the player should want to come back to the next session.

2. The coaching environment should be a safe space to be in.

3. All players will be treated as knowledgeable and creative beings who are able to think for themselves.

4. Players will demonstrate respect for all other individuals in the coaching environment.

5. Players will demonstrate high levels of motivation at all times.

6. Parents are welcome to observe the sessions but cannot interfere with the players during the session.

In striving to provide a positive coaching environment it is essential that there are no mismatches between a coach’s philosophy and the expectations of the individual or team that the coach is working with. Any mismatch would result in conflict or tension in the coaching environment. This could mean that coaches decide to adapt their privately held values and beliefs in order to ensure that conflict is either removed, minimised or at least managed in the coach-athlete relationship. This means that sports coaches can present a very different public face in comparison to their privately held values and beliefs. There will be situations where compromise on certain core values and beliefs might not be an option for a sports coach and in these cases it is probably best for the coach to seek out another coaching opportunity that is consistent with their coaching philosophy.

There are approximately 240,000 sports coaches in some form of employment (SkillsActive, 2011). Employment can add a layer of complexity for sports coaches to negotiate. In addition to the expectations of the individuals and teams that they are working with, they must also consider their employers’ expectations. For example, coaches working for a professional club need to treat winning as a priority, whereas coaches working for a school need to ensure that the holistic development of the child is central. It is a delicate balancing act for coaches in being flexible and adaptive in relation to the context presented to them, while remaining faithful to their deeply embedded set of values.

To avoid potential conflict between the coaches, participants, parents, and, where applicable, the employers, the coach should attempt to establish a mutual direction that will guide what takes place in the coaching environment. This means presenting the public version of their coaching philosophy, and then asking questions to those with a vested interest in the coaching. For example, prior to working with a group of participants, you could ask:

• What is the main reason for you participating in this sport?

• What do you want to achieve individually and collectively this season?

• What is it that you most enjoy about this sport?

An example of a widely accepted definition of sports coaching is that it “centres on the improvement of an individual’s or team’s sporting ability, both as a general capacity and as specific performances” (Lyle, 2002, p.38). Similarly, Kidman and Hanrahan (2004, p.145) state that “one of the primary roles of a coach is to help athletes improve their performance”.

The main assumption surrounding these definitions is that the primary goal of any sports coach is to improve the performance of an individual or team in a competitive arena. However, there are a number of different coaching contexts in which it would be inappropriate for the coach and the participants to treat performance enhancement as the primary goal (for example, working with individuals exercising for health benefits). Contemporary thinking about sports coaching has suggested that the primary goal of any coach is to enable athletes to learn. Chapter 5 Pedagogy for Coaches unpicks this notion and develops a detailed account of theories and strategies to ensure that you will be able to maximise athlete learning in your sessions.

Coaching sport is a highly contextual act and there are a number of factors that directly influence the coaching environment. Coaching is primarily a social activity that involves the coach establishing and maintaining a number of coach-athlete relationships. Chapter 6 Sociology for Coaches explores the sociological influences on coaching sport, helping you to develop an appreciation of coaching relationships at the micro-level and the broader societal influences on coaching at the macro-level. Sports coaching is a relational activity.

As a relational activity, the personal characteristics of both the coach and the individual or team have a direct influence on the coaching environment. The list below presents some of the personal characteristics of an individual or team that significantly influence the coaching environment:

• Age• Gender• Learning preferences• Reason for

participation

• (Dis)ability• Personality• Motivation

Chapter 4 The Coaching Process looks at how these factors, amongst others, influence the planning, delivery and evaluation of a coaching session. Chapter 9 Understanding Special Populations in Coaching and Chapter 10 Coaching Young Performers examines how sports coaches need to adapt their practice in order to ensure a positive coaching environment for a range of individuals and teams that might present a number of different challenges.

From a coach’s perspective, the term coaching philosophy is often used to describe the guiding principles that shape a coach’s behaviour in the coaching environment. These guiding principles can be internal to the coach, based on a set of deeply held beliefs, or externally imposed expectations from participants and employers or organisations. These guiding principles can collectively be referred to as the ethics of coaching. Morals, values and virtues combine to provide the sports coach with a framework against which reflection and choices are made. It is these choices in a particular context that shape the coaching philosophy. Chapter 14 Ethics and Good Practice explores these ethical tensions from a coach’s perspective and highlights the challenges that face practising coaches on a daily basis.

A written record of a coach’s philosophy is referred to as a philosophy statement. The following list of questions might be helpful in developing your coaching philosophy statement:

Philosophy statement – the written record of a coach’s philosophy

Holistic – considering someone as a whole rather than dealing with a part

Key terms

Athlete – person competing in organised sport events

Contexts – the situations within which something exists

Contextual – related to the specific situation within which something exists or happens

Relational – involving interaction with others

Relationships – the way in which the coach and athlete are connected

Coaching environment – the physical space in which sports coaching activities take place

Coaching philosophy – the guiding principles that shape a coach’s behaviour in the coaching environment

Key terms

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• What activities do you really enjoy in a coaching session?

• What activities do you particularly dislike doing in a coaching session?

• How are we going to ensure that your experience is satisfying?

• What do we need to do if you become dissatisfied with your experience?

In summary, a balanced definition of sports coaching could be as follows: a complex, relational activity that involves a coach establishing and maintaining facilitative relationships within a positive coaching environment conducive to meeting the participants’ goals for taking part in physical activity. Sports coaches, whether employed or volunteer, working with elite athletes striving to achieve competition goals, children participating for fun, or the elderly maintaining health levels, are guided by a flexible coaching philosophy that directly influences their coaching behaviour.

What motivates somebody to become a sports coach?Sport and sports coaching are seen as important for internal and external reasons by individuals and policy makers, but what motivates somebody to become a sports coach? Table 1.1 presents these as intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external) reasons.

Table 1.1: Intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for becoming a sports coach

Intrinsic Extrinsic

Focus on internal rewards Focus on external rewards

Coach for the love of the sport

Money

Personal satisfaction Equipment

Enjoyment Coaching awards

Fun Trophies

Sports coaches motivated by extrinsic reasons tend to be referred to as coach-centred, whereas those primarily motivated by intrinsic reasons are known as athlete-centred. A sports coach’s motivation(s) will have a strong influence on the coaching behaviour that they exhibit.

Different approaches to sports coachingDifferent approaches to sports coaching are determined by the degree to which the coach controls the coaching environment, or from the perspective of the participant, the level of dependency on the coach. You can think of the approaches being situated on a spectrum from complete control by the coach at one end to complete independence of the athlete at the other. The coaching philosophy of the coach and their motivations for coaching, participant variables (for example, age and reasons for participation), and external influences (for example, parent and employer expectations) all impact the coaching approach. Table 1.2 summarises the three main approaches to sports coaching.

The use of the term ‘coach-athlete’ relationship is problematic in describing the bond that sports coaches establish and maintain. Using the term ‘athlete’ directly implies that there is a performance aspect to the relationship. Using the term ‘coach-participant’ relationship is more consistent with contemporary thinking on the realities of coaching sport.

Remember

Select and read a sports coach’s autobiography and note both internal and external factors that guided their manner of coaching. Produce a philosophy statement for the coach. Compare and contrast your findings.

Stop and think

Participant – a person who takes part or becomes involved in an activity

Key term

Why is a humanistic approach the benchmark in coaching practice?The coach-participant relationship is at the core of the practice of sports coaching, and in order to ensure a positive coaching environment, the coach must be proficient at establishing and maintaining these, sometimes multiple, relationships. Therefore, to think that it is the coach who is solely responsible and in control of what takes place in the coaching environment ignores the importance of the relationship dynamic that is present in all coaching contexts. This person-centred approach to sports coaching emphasises empowering participants to strive towards achieving personal goals within a positive interpersonal relationship and is widely accepted as being the benchmark for the majority of coaching contexts. Although there are a number of terms associated with this approach to coaching, such as an empowerment approach, a person-centred approach, a collaborative approach, a non-manipulative approach, a democratic approach and an holistic approach, it is most commonly referred to as a humanistic approach to sports coaching.The humanist approach is described as being the benchmark for sports coaching practice. Figure 1.1 presents the main assumptions on which a humanistic approach to sports coaching is based.

Sport is any form of physical activity that is undertaken for any reason (including competition but expanded to include a myriad of other purposes such as enjoyment, social activity, weight management, friendships and developing self-esteem). Activities included in a broader physical definition of sport include: exercise, health related activities, exergaming, dance and activities of daily living.

Remember

Using the information provided in Table 1.2, discuss with a partner how you think that the following will influence the approach used by a coach:• Age

• Performance level of participants

• Participants’ reasons for participation (fun, health, competition)

• Employers’ expectations

Stop and think

Table 1.2: Approaches to sports coaching

Approach Authoritarian Power sharing Humanistic

Who is in control? Coach Joint Athlete

Dependence on coach Coach dependence Athlete/coach interdependence

Athlete independence

Characteristics No decision-making responsibility

Shared decision-making Self-responsibility

Strengths Safety and securityTeaching skills

Sense of control Personal autonomyHolistic focus

Weaknesses Participant has no control Confusion about who is responsible

Reduction in coach accountability

Empowerment – the control that athletes have over themselves to change things for the better

Humanistic approach to sports coaching – a person-centred approach focussing on the holistic development of an empowered individual

Key term

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Figure 1.1: The main assumptions on which a humanistic approach to sports coaching is based (Adapted from Lyle 2002, p.176)

Why is a humanistic approach compatible with a performance sport culture?Adopting a humanistic approach to sports coaching allows coaches to take the moral high ground; it is seen as ‘good’ coaching practice and the ‘correct’ way of doing things. However, just because something is viewed as the correct way of doing it, it does not necessarily mean that it is the most effective way of doing it. For coaches working with athletes with a performance agenda, a tension exists in balancing athlete welfare and competition success. Those coaches working with performance athletes whose jobs are secured on sometimes short-term measures of competition success sometimes argue that placing the interests of the individual before competition goals could be problematic for them. Additionally, in the current performance sport culture, an athlete’s personal funding is fundamentally linked to competition success. The substantial level of funding available

for athletes can often be the difference between being able to pursue their competition goals in a sport or not.

UK Sport terms the personal funding awarded to athletes on the World Class Performance Programme the Athlete Personal Award (APA) and this is given to ‘Podium’ level athletes based on sports specific criteria relating to the level at which the athlete is capable of performing. For an Olympic or World Championship level athlete, this personal funding is approximately £27,000 per annum, dropping to £20,000 for a top eight finish in a major games, and falling to £13,500 for being a performer at major championships. The average APA payment is currently £18,500 for ‘Podium’ level athletes. In addition, each elite athlete following a performance programme could receive any (or all) of the following benefits that are termed collectively ‘in kind’ support:

• World class coaches• Sports science support• Medical support• Warm weather training and acclimatisation• International competition schedule• Athlete development programmes• Access to appropriate training facilities

For athletes performing at podium level, this ‘in kind’ support could equate to a value around £55,000 per annum, and even for development level athletes on the World Class Performance Programme this could be worth in the region of £30,000 per annum. For elite athletes that are outside of the UK Sport performance programme, for example those in professional football, rugby, and cricket clubs, the financial pressures on performance are equally as demanding. The balance between athlete welfare and competition success is a tension that must be reconciled in the coach-athlete relationship.

Instead of falling into the trap of thinking that a humanistic approach to sports coaching is incompatible with a performance culture and

is only effective for working with participants without competition goals, it could be argued that it is necessary for coaches to challenge the performance culture that exists in elite athlete development. Performance culture reduces an athlete’s development throughout their career to a short-term focus on competition success and typically places an authoritarian coach at the centre of this process. Authoritarian coaches are sometimes referred to as prescriptive or autocratic coaches, and have mistakenly been located as an important part in achieving competition success. Kidman (2001, pp.12–13) identifies a number of issues with locating these prescriptive/autocratic coaches at the heart of a performance culture. These issues are summarised below:

• Autocratic coaches try to control athlete behaviour in both the sport and beyond the sport setting

• Athletes are coached as if they are on a factory assembly line

• The limited athlete learning is focused on memorising rather than understanding or solving problems

• Encourages athletes to be robotic in their actions and thinking

• Athletes feel that they do not have an active role in their learning

• Coaches tend to give athletes extraordinarily gruelling training sessions

• Coaches sometimes use dehumanising practices to enforce control

• ‘Must-win’ environment contradicts why many athletes are participating in sport

• Results in athlete disempowerment• Reading a game is largely a prescription from the

coach• Coaches believe they need to be hard-nosed and

discipline-oriented• Coaches hold all the power in the relationship• Coaches have license to ‘exploit’ their power• Coaches expect unquestioned acceptance of their

actions

When things go wrong, a coach can blame the athlete and indicate that the athlete was not motivated or did things that the coach didn’t tell them to do, whereas the athlete can blame the coach for their poor performance and develop resentment over the way that they have been treated.

Coach in control: Is this the key to achieving competition goals?

An alternative to this is achievable through using more democratic approaches to coaching performance athletes. A humanistic approach promotes athlete empowerment and independence, developing a high degree of self-responsibility. Athletes therefore exert a direct influence on the coaching environment and by taking ownership of their learning and competition and performance goals, it becomes more likely that these will be achieved.

Competition goalsare secondary to the interests of the individual

Sport should not be defined solely about performance and the result

Humanistic Approach to

Sports Coaching

The coach nurtures a facilitative coach-participant relationship

Activities are characterised by empowerment, and self-determination

Sports performance is about more than just skill development

Emphasise: health, family, education, relationships and career

Coaching sport is about interpersonal relationships

Sport is only one part of an athlete’s life

Your [performance] athletes might not have been coached in a way that encourages empowerment before and so must ‘buy in’ to the approach for it to be fully effective. In these contexts, to introduce a humanistic approach to your coaching practice you will need to implement it in small steps.

Remember

Disempowerment – to deprive the athlete of power or influence

Key terms

Effective – achieving the results that you want

Key term

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What makes a good coach? What do you think are the qualities of a good coach? Table 1.3 presents the typical responses of athletes, participants and sports students in response to being asked what they think makes a good coach.

The qualities of a good coach include a range of roles, skills and responsibilities. The roles of a coach are explored later in this chapter, and the skills and responsibilities of a coach are covered in Chapter 4 The Coaching Process and Chapter 5 Pedagogy for Coaches. The requirement of coaches to be knowledgeable is consistently ranked as one of the most important characteristics of a good coach. Chapter 3 Coaching Knowledge and Learning to Coach looks at illuminating the knowledge that a coach possesses. It is important to be able to identify the knowledge that a coach requires and to understand how you acquire that knowledge. Chapter 3 Coaching Knowledge and Learning to Coach details where and how coaches learn to coach.

One area of knowledge that is referred to as being important to coaches is scientific knowledge. This book presents the key scientific knowledge that underpins coaching practice. Chapter 5 Pedagogy of Coaching considers the science of teaching, something which is sometimes referred to as the ‘art’ of coaching. In addition to this the following

Documenting the coaching roles in this uncritical way ignores the essence of coaching. As coaching is relational and contextual, the potential roles that a sports coach could be faced with undertaking become readily expanded when considering what a coach must do in order to establish and maintain a series of relationships in a range of contexts. For example, a coach working with participants with weight management concerns might have to take on the role of nutritional advisor, or the role of travel agent in organising a trip for the participants. Sometimes a coach needs to interpret performance analysis data and so needs to be a statistician.

chapters explore the key science areas that underpin coaching practice: Chapter 7 Anatomy and Physiology for Coaches, Chapter 8 Psychology for Coaches, Chapter 11 Nutrition, Exercise and Lifestyle Management, Chapter 12 Analysis of Sports Performance, and Chapter 13 Coaches and Athletic Preparation: Training and Monitoring.

The multiple roles of a coach

Academic and professional literature documents the roles of a coach as the functions carried out in relation to completing the coaching tasks in the coaching environment. Typically the roles of a coach are presented as the following:

• Motivator• Friend• Demonstrator• Instructor• Assessor• Mentor• Role model• Organiser

• Leader

A coach can sometimes be a taxi-driver, social worker, police officer, actor, teacher, pseudo parent, and counsellor, amongst many others. Figure 1.2 presents the multiplicity of roles that a coach could be faced with undertaking. The central spine of the diagram represents the typical roles of a coach, whereas thinking about what coaching actually involves in reality results in additional roles being added to the left and right of the central spine.

In addition to these multiple roles of a coach, coaches require particular skills (for example, communication, organisation, problem solving, evaluating, and time management) in order to establish and maintain facilitative coach-participant relationships and a positive coaching environment. Chapter 5 Pedagogy for Coaches explains the different forms of communication that a coach can use in order to convey information to the participants. Chapter 4 The Coaching Process covers a range of additional skills that coaches possess that are relevant to organising and delivering a coaching session.

Individually, rank the twenty characteristics identified in Table 1.2 in order of importance to you, with the most important ranked at one. Compare and contrast your ranked list with other members of your group.

Stop and think

Roles – the range of behaviours displayed by a coach in maintaining a positive coaching environment

Key term

Qualities and characteristics

Patient Flexible Interested in other things in my life Good listener

A good player Experienced Good communicator Creative

Not just a dictator Uses different approaches Knows what I like Caring

Sense of humour Makes me feel good about myself Punctual Knowledgeable

Motivator Good time manager Appears to enjoy coaching us Friendly

Table 1.3: Qualities and characteristics of a good coach

Multiple Rolesof a Coach

Motivator

Demonstrator

Instructor

Assessor

Mentor

Role model

Organiser

Leader

Friend

Nutritionist Physiologist

Biomechanist Statistician

Travel agent Taxi driver

Counsellor Social worker

Police officer Supporter

Parent Pseudo-parent

Actor Innovator

Pedagogue Advisor

Teacher Planner

Figure 1.2: The roles of a coach

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Useful resourcesTo obtain a secure link to the websites below, see the Websites section on page ii or visit the companion website at www.pearsonfe.co.uk/foundationsinsport.

British Cycling www.britishcycling.org.uk

British Gymnastics www.british-gymnastics.org

Coachwise www.1st4sport.com

English Basketball Association www.englandbasketball.co.uk

International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching http://www.multi-science.co.uk/sports-science&coaching.htm

Sociology of Sport Journal http://journals.humankinetics.com/ssj

Sports Coach UK www.sportscoachuk.org/

Sport England www.sportengland.org

Sports Leaders UK www.sportsleaders.org

The British Olympic Association www.olympics.org.uk

The Football Association www.thefa.com

The Lawn Tennis Association www.lta.org.uk

The Rugby Football Union www.rfu.com

The Sport Psychologist http://journals.humankinetics.com/tsp

UK Athletics www.uka.org.uk

UK Sport www.uksport.gov.uk

Further readingBritish Heart Foundation (2011). Children and physical activity policy statement [online]. Available from: http://www.bhf.org.uk/pdf/Children%20and%20Physical%20Activity%20Policy%20Statement%20Policy%20Statement%20February%202010.pdf [Accessed 23 March 2011].

Carter, P. (2005). Review of National Sport Effort and Resources. London: Sport England.

Cashmore, E. (2000). Making Sense of Sports (3rd edition). London: Routledge.

Cassidy, T., Jones, R.L. and Potrac, P. (2009). Understanding Sports Coaching: The social, cultural and pedagogical foundations of coaching practice (2nd edition). London: Routledge.

Coalter, F. (2007). A Wider Social Role for Sport: Who’s keeping the score? London: Routledge.

Cross, N. and Lyle, J. (1999). The Coaching Process: Principles and practice for sport. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2002). The Coaching Task Force: Final report. London: DCMS.

Denison, J. (ed.). (1997). Coaching Knowledges: Understanding the dynamics of sport performance. London: A&C Black.

Hardman, A.R. and Jones, C. (ed.). (2011). The Ethics of Sports Coaching. London: Routledge.

Houlihan, B. (2009). Sport and Society: A student introduction (2nd edition). London: Sage.

Jarvie, G. (2006). Sport, Culture and Society: An introduction. London: Routledge.

Jones, R.L. (ed.) (2005). The Sports Coach as Educator: Reconceptualising sports coaching. London: Routledge.

Jones, R.L., Armour, K.M. and Potrac, P. (2004). Sports Coaching Cultures: From practice to theory. London: Routledge.

Kidman, L. (ed.). (2001). Developing Decision Makers: An empowerment approach to coaching. Christchurch: Innovative Communications.

Kidman, L. and Hanrahan, S. (2011). The Coaching Process: A practical guide to improving your effectiveness (3rd edition). Palmerston North: Dunmore.

Lombardo, B.J. (1987). The Humanistic Coach: From theory to practice. Springfield: C.C. Thomas.

Lyle, J. (2002). Sports Coaching Concepts: A framework for coaches’ behaviour. London: Routledge.

Martens, R. (2004). Successful Coaching (3rd edition). Champaign: Human Kinetics.

SkillsActive. (2011). Sport and Recreation [online]. Available from: http://www.skillsactive.com/sport [Accessed 23 March 2011].

Sport England. (2011). Active people survey 4 [online]. Available from: http://www.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey/active_people_survey_4.aspx [Accessed 23 March 2011].

1. Give a definition of sport.

2. Give a definition of sports coaching.

3. List five internal reasons why someone might participate in sport.

4. Why are politics and sport difficult to separate?

5. Why is sports coaching described as relational?

6. Why is sports coaching described as contextual?

7. What do you understand the term ‘holistic coaching’ to mean?

8. What is a coaching philosophy?

9. Write a coaching philosophy statement for a high profile coach of your choice.

10. Why is it thought that a humanistic approach to sports coaching is the correct way of doing things?

11. Is it only coaches working at the participation level that should be guided by a humanistic approach to coaching?

12. What do you think makes a good coach?

13. List 10 roles of a coach

Check your understanding

Charlotte’s coaching practice is characterised by a humanistic approach. She has recently been asked by a netball club to coach a group of children (aged 11–14) of mixed ability. Charlotte has sole responsibility for selecting a team to play in a local league. She knows that the previous coach left because a group of players and their parents were not happy with only finishing third in the league.

Questions

1. How could Charlotte present her coaching philosophy to her new group of participants?

2. To minimise future tensions, what questions would Charlotte need to ask the participants in her group before the first session?

3. What questions could Charlotte ask the parents of the participants before the first session?

4. How could Charlotte deal with participants and parents that disagree with her coaching approach before the first session?

5. All the children tell Charlotte that they are thoroughly enjoying the coaching sessions, however, the team that she has selected loses the first four matches of the season. What should Charlotte do?

6. Charlotte is informed that her ‘star’ player is struggling to manage her time between sport and education and is getting into trouble at school for non-submission of homework, late arrival at class, and not participating in physical education lessons. What should Charlotte do?

Case study

Foundations in SPORTS COACHING Introduction to sports coaching 1

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